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FalconEye Review 34: Metroid Zero Mission
Alright guys, the last 2D Metroid game we need to review until Nintendo decides to make another one. It's Metroid Zero Mission for the GBA. Now, before I review this one, I know a lot of you have been asking when I'm going to review the other two Prime games, Other M, Hunters, and Pinball. The reason I haven't reviewed them yet is because I haven't played any of them the whole way through, or even own most of them. I'm hoping to review them around August of this year, but, time will tell. Actually, while we're at it, if you didn't see it on my homepage, here's what I'm planning to do for the rest of the year. March: Zelda Marathon May: Sonic Marathon 2 August: Month of Metroid September: Month of Mario October: Month of Castlevania December: Zelda Marathon II I will do reviews in between, but onto the review Plot This game is a remake of the original Metroid, so the plot is the same.... with a twist. Samus is sent to planet Zebes to stop the space pirates and exterminate the metroids on the planet. So, she goes through the planet, gets to Tourian, yadayadayada. Along the way, she picks up a lot of her old stuff, as well as three unknown items that her suit isn't compatable with.... well that.... sucks. She finally gets to Tourian and pumps Mother Brain full of missiles. She then escapes Zebes before Tourian blows up, and the game is.... wait.... what? Samus is suddenly attacked by Space Pirates. She crashes her ship back on Zebes and due to the explosion her power suit isn't functioning. She infiltrates the space pirate base using nothing but her emergency pistol, which can only momentarily stun enemies. This is arguably the best part of the game. It's like the SA-X chases in Fusion, they're scary, exciting, and.... awesome? She eventually comes across a chozo statue, which, after testing her, gives Samus her fully powered suit. She can now use the three secret items, which turn out to be the Space Jump, Gravity Suit, and Plasma Beam. Samus then goes throughout the entire planet, obliterating the space pirates as she goes, in addition to finding the Power Bombs. She eventually finds a room where she fights a robotic version of Ridley, which is either the easiest boss in the game, or harder than all the bosses combined depending on how much of the items you got. After it dies, you escape the base, hijack a sapce pirate ship, and escape. Now you've completed Metroid Zero Mission. Gameplay As far as gameplay and controls go, it's a cross between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion. The jumping is very quick like in Fusion, but you can walljump like you can in Super Metroid, it's just a lot harder in this game because of the less floaty jumping. For the most part, the game is as nonlinear as Super Metroid, but you can occasionally find a Chozo statue that will tell you the general direction you should be heading, kind of like the hint system in Prime. As far as items go, you get all the powerups as in the first game, the wave beam, the ice beam, the morph ball, morph ball bombs, missles, the screw attack, high jump boots, and the Varia suit. Oh and yes, just like in the first game, you have to track down the long beam. Thankfully it's a lot easier to find in this game, so I didn't mind it as much in this game as the original. You also get some items from the other games, like the charge beam, speed booster, the unknown items, the power bombs, and a new item, the power grip, which allows her to..... grab ledges? Ummmm.... couldn't she do that naturally in Fusion? Whatever, in the original, there were only three bosses, Kraid, Ridley, and Mother Brain. This game, in addition to Mecharidley, also has a few other bosses, but most of them are pathetically easy, so I won't go into depth. Kraid is now as large and ascts like he did in Super Metroid. Ridley is similar to the one in Fusion, only easier. And also, in addition to the original areas Brinstar, Maridia, Norfair, and Tourian, you can now explore Crateria from Super Metroid, and a new area called Chozodia. Good Aspects If you want to get into the Metroid series, start with this game. It gives you a taste of nonlinear gameplay without being too punishing. Although, I really can't think of anything about this game that really sticks out except the final part. Bad Aspects If there's one complaint I have about this game, it's its length and difficulty level. This game is really short. The first time it will probably take you about three hours, but once you play it once or twice, you can most likely beat it in under an hour and a half. The difficulty overall is also pretty low. Conclusion Well...... if you want to play a version of the original Metroid, play this game. It's nowhere near as difficult, is easier to navigate, and is just more fun. I'll give it a 7.5/10.